UI professor alleges racial discrimination by superiors

IOWA CITY - A University of Iowa professor and researcher who filed complaints of discrimination against three of his superiors with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission said Tuesday he is more hopeful now that an internal UI process will resolve the matter.

Malik E. Juweid, 49, charges in the complaints that superiors called him and other foreign-born professors names and that they retaliated against Juweid when he reported the behavior to UI officials.

But Juweid said he still hopes to solve the matter through an internal UI grievance process. He will withdraw his complaints to the commission if the UI investigation rules in his favor, he said.

“I'm not interested in going after the university, not interested in suing the university, I'm not interested in money,” Juweid said. “I just want justice, and they know that.”

The people named in Juweid's complaints to the Civil Rights Commission are Paul Rothman, dean of the Carver College of Medicine; Lois Geist, associate dean of faculty affairs and faculty development in the Carver College; and Laurie Fajardo, chairwoman of the radiology department.

All three declined to comment through UI spokesman Tom Moore. In a statement, Moore said UI officials are taking Juweid's allegations seriously.

“Malik Juweid has filed a number of complaints with the University of Iowa. The UI takes all such complaints very seriously and is thoroughly investigating the validity of each of those complaints under its processes and policies,” Moore said.

Moore and Civil Rights Commission officials said personnel and privacy issues prevent them from commenting on the situation. Juweid sent The Gazette copies of his complaints.

Juweid, on the faculty since October 2000, teaches radiology and nuclear medicine. He charges that Fajardo called him an “academic terrorist” and called a colleague “Osama bin Laden.” Fajardo also intentionally hindered Juweid's research and defamed his academic character, he alleges.

He and colleagues went to Rothman in June to ask that Fajardo's review be conducted early, in light of faculty dissatisfaction with her leadership, Juweid said. After this meeting, Juweid says, Geist yelled at him and tried to subject him to disciplinary measures without letting him defend himself.

Rothman initially told Juweid he was willing to have him no longer report to Fajardo, Juweid said. But after Juweid filed his first complaint with the commission, Rothman changed his mind, Juweid said.

He tried initially to address his complaints through the UI's internal processes, Juweid said, but he didn't think officials were impartial, moving fast enough or willing to work with him. That's why he contacted the Civil Rights Commission this fall, he said.

But after taking those steps, he has more faith in the UI internal process now, he said.

“I lost confidence in November. Now, I'm having more confidence,” he said.